Contact us today!

Please like, Share and follow

Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko edge closer to heavyweight showdown (now cancelled)

Watford News 2016
Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko edge closer to heavyweight showdown
  • Eddie Hearn says both fighters want the bout to go ahead 
  • Klitschko eager to find replacement for ‘medically unfit’ Tyson Fury

Eddie Hearn is confident a blockbuster fight between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko can take place before the end of the year.

Joshua is currently pencilled in for a mandatory defence of his IBF heavyweight belt on 26 November while Klitschko is looking for an opponent after his rematch with Tyson Fury, scheduled for later this month, was cancelled for a second time owing to the Briton being “medically unfit”.

The fight may also be for the WBA and WBO belts if Fury is stripped of them, and Hearn says both fighters want the bout to go ahead. “I am hopeful, both guys have it in their mind that that is going to be the next fight,” the promoter said. “There are plenty of hurdles to overcome still and day by day we are ticking each of them off and I think there is a real expectancy from all sides now that that will be the next fight.

"I am hopeful, both guys have it in their mind that that is going to be the next fight", Hearn told the Press Association.

"There are plenty of hurdles to overcome still and day by day we are ticking each of them off and I think there is a real expectancy from all sides now that that will be the next fight.

"Can we push that back to December? I'd like a little bit more time, that's a possibility as well. Wladimir Klitschko against Joshua is the most likely scenario."

Klitschko would be the most accomplished opponent of Joshua's career so far. The 40-year-old successfully defended his heavyweight title for a record 18 times between 2006 and 2016 but was shocked by Fury in Dusseldorf last November.

According to Hearn, he is keen not to put his training for the cancelled Fury rematch to waste and is keen to take on the Briton 14 years his junior .

"Klitschko has been training for 12 months, he has got the bit between his teeth and he wants to fight," said Hearn.

"The Joshua fight is probably the biggest out there in the division right now and it is a great fight — a young lion coming through against the master.

"Is it too early for Anthony Joshua? Maybe, but isn't that what makes it exciting? Anthony is ready for the fight and wants the fight.

"Wladimir wants the fight and all being well we can overcome the inevitable hurdles that come with a fight of this magnitude."

Please like, Share and follow

© 2024 WatfordLondon | A WRUSH media Designed Website